Conventionally, in an apparatus with thumbnail display, in order to enable selectively viewing the contents (information) of various categories, such as, for example, television programs, pictures, video-recorded information, still frames or the like, thumbnails, which are reduced specific images, have been created for each content of those categories, and simultaneously displayed on the screen as a content menu screen (i.e. thumbnail screen). Therefore, in the apparatus with thumbnail display, it has been able to display and view the desired content on the screen by selecting the thumbnail of the desired content from the thumbnail screen.
In an exemplary apparatus with thumbnail display, the display screen is divided into sections for a TV program, a library, and the Internet starting from the top. In the TV program section, thumbnails for TV channels are arranged and displayed. In the library section, thumbnails for files for each content stored in folders registered in the library of a hard disc (e.g. video-recorded program file, moving image video file, still image file, voice file, Internet data file or the like) are arranged and displayed. In the Internet section, thumbnails for Internet data introduction information are arranged and displayed. (Reference may be made to JP-A-2004-221672 for example.
In this apparatus with thumbnail display, since each thumbnail is displayed with a space between each, it is possible to clearly identify the thumbnail. Furthermore, the thumbnails arranged in these TV program, library, and Internet sections always scroll on the display screen from right to left. Therefore, even if there are too many thumbnails to be displayed on one screen, they are sequentially and repeatedly displayed on the screen. Thus, it is possible to select a desired thumbnail from among the displayed thumbnails by pointing and clicking it with a cursor, and then to view the content of the selected thumbnail.
In such a thumbnail screen, the library section is also divided into each file, such as a video-recorded program file, a moving image file, or the like, mentioned above. Therefore, it should be noted that the type of each content, such as each file in the TV program and library, Internet data introduction information, or the like, is referred to as a category in the following sections.
A data display method of the apparatus with thumbnail display has been proposed as another example. In the data display method, thumbnails for respective categories are arranged in an XYZ coordinate space, and the thumbnails are visible from various viewpoints, thus making it possible to select the thumbnail of a desired content. Reference may be made to JP-A-10-187743 for example.
In this data display method, the Z-axis in the depth direction is configured to be a coordinate axis for indicating date and time, and along the Z-axis a calendar model for indicating date and time is displayed. The X axis, parallel to the display screen and in the horizontal direction, is configured to be a coordinate axis for indicating the type of categories, and a category model for indicating the name of categories, such as “document”, “image” or “planning conference”, is arranged and displayed in the X direction. Moreover, for each category model, thumbnails belonging to the category are arranged in the Z-axis direction.
The thumbnails, which are arranged in a three dimensional (3D) space, are visible from a different viewpoint in accordance with instructions to change the viewpoint given by an input unit. When the viewpoint is brought closer to a thumbnail, the display of thumbnail is enlarged accordingly. When a desired thumbnail is specified and clicked, the thumbnail is selected, with its content being displayed.